Gun



June 4, 1935. D. A. GURNEY El AL GUN Filed May 2, 1935 -I W E Inventurs tun A.Gurney Thomas AJImnlcm ATTORNEY Patented June 4, 1935 Dayton A. Gurney, Caro, Mich and Thomas A.

' Conlon, Silver Spring, Md.

Application May 2, 1933, Serial No. 669,000

1 Claim.

(Granted under the act or March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to us of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to a method of and apparatus for controlling the range of a gun;

The principal object of the present invention is the establishment of a, method and the provision of means whereby the energy generated by the propelling gases at the moment of explosion or the distance traveled by the projectile while acted upon by said gases, may be controlled in such a manner that with the same propelling charge'difierent ranges may be attained which are a predetermined fraction of the range of a piece of standard artillery.

The gun is designed as a simple and inexpznsive sub-caliber weapon having particular application in training students in the conduct of artillery firing, especially artillery employing separate loading ammunition where the weight of the propellant charge provides the muzzle velocity for the difierent zones of fire.

More specifically the invention consists in applying an adapter to the muzzle of a short barrel on a small caliber gun in such a way that the guns of a battery may be calibrated and arranging for the provision of an adjustable expansion chamber in the adapter or an adjustable length of travel of the projectile in the barrel.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention resides in the novel arrangement and combination of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

A practical embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in longitudinal section showing the improved gun loaded and ready to fire.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a fragment of the gun.

Fig. 3 is a view in elevation of a group of sleeves.

Fig. 4 is a view of a group of sleeves of a modified form.

Figs. 5 and 6 are detail sectional views on the respective lines of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 7 is a detail of a modification shown in longitudinal section.

Referring to the drawing by numerals of reference, there is shown a gun consisting generally of a stock 5, a lock 6, a. barrel I and a cylindrical adapter 8 mounted on the muzzle of the barrel by means of the threaded attachment 9. The stock, lock and barrel shown in the drawing are 5 from a commercially obtainable .22 caliber rifle, modified by cutting of! the front portion of the barrel and providing the threads 9. The bore l0 of the barrel constitutes a combustion chamher for the blank cartridge II which is to supply 10 the propellant gases.

The adapter 8 provides an expansion chamber for the propellant gases as well as a chamber for the projectile I2 which is a metal ball. The bore of the adapter is preferably greater than the out- 15 side of the muzzle of the barrel so that the adapter may be threadedly adjusted on the barrel. A sleeve I3 adapted to seat the projectile H has a sliding fit in the adapter and seats on the annular shoulder ll of the adapter. The internal 20 diameter of the sleeve is in excess of the external diameter of the barrel and accordingly may overlie the barrel when the adapter is moved rearwardly in adjustment from the position shown in Fig. 1.

As indicated in Fig. 3 a set of the sleeves I3 is provided for the gun. For convenience the sleeves are inscribed with range data or, when the gun is to be used to simulate howitzer firing with separate loading ammunition, with data con- 30 cerning zones of fire. Since the projectile i2 is seated in the front end of the sleeve the various sleeves serve to establish expansion chambers of varying volume. The longest sleeve gives the least range and the shortest sleeve gives the'greatest range.

Another way of accomplishing the same purpose is shown in Fig. 4 where the sleeves 13a are of the same length but havebores of varying diameter. 40

The adapter is held in position of adjustment on the barrel by means of a plunger l5 arranged to enter a slot or groove [5 in the adapter. The plunger is mounted in a casing Il fixed on the barrel and is normally held in position to engage the adapter by means of a spring l8 confined between the rear end I9 01' the casing and a collar 20 on the plunger. As seen in Fig. 2 a range scale 2| is inscribed on the adapter and is readable against the end of the plunger. In em ploying the gun for teaching or demonstrating artillery firing the ballistic or other corrections may be accounted for in terms of range by effecting an adjustment of the adapter on the barrel. when a number of guns are employed in simulation of a battery 0! artillery, variations in the peri'ormanceofthegimsmaybecorrectedby adjustment oi the adapters.

Whenthe gunisflred thesieeveinthe adapter 5 isnotdisturbedandremainsinplace.

In the modification shown in Fig. 7 the sleeve lib is secured on the muzzle end of the barrel I and the adapter 8 is adjustably mounted on the sleeve so that, by adjusting the adapter, the dis- 10 tance traveled by the projectile within the adapter will be varied thereby regulating the range.

We claim:

A unit for training an artillery gun crew embodying a stock, a look, a barrel mounted on the stock, an adapter mounted for adjustment on the muzzle o! the barrel, means tor securing the adapter in adjusted positions. and means associated with the adapter whereby the range may be varied to predetermined fractions of the ranges of pieces 01' standard artillery.

DAYTON A. GURNEY. THOMAS A. CONLON. 

